Just bought a Ric and have some questions?

I just bought a Ric 4003 used from Guitar Center and I have some questions. I know it's a love it or hate it kind of instrument but I had such a ruff time playing it at my first gig I almost regret buying it. Man is it heavy. I want to play it because I love the sound.

Without thinking about the string gauge. I had the tech put flat wound Roto Sound standard strings on it and take off the pick up cover. The E string was a 105.

My old bass was a Curbow with a 95 as the E string. The Curbow is a short scale bass and the 95 seems super light. I don't use a pick either. I play finger style.

After the first set I had blisters on my calluses and the long scale neck was really stretching my playing hand. So my question is... could the strings really make that much of a difference in playability?

My second question concerns the Ric-o-Sound. I have the cable situation figured out but a lot of players have said they use a guitar amp as one of the two amps. I always heard you can play a guitar out of a bass amp but never a bass out of a guitar amp. So my second question is in Ric-O-Sound can I play the bridge pickup through a guitar amp?

So you got a long-scale bass and you used to have a short scale? And you changed the strings on it that may have more tension than you're used to? And the new bass is heavier than your old one? Seems to me you've got a lot to get used to. Back in my younger days (four decades ago), I had a Japanese Beatle bass knock-off and went from that to a Rick. I went from short scale to long scale, and smallish flat wounds to Rotosound Swing Bass roundwound strings of high tension. I played with a pick, but my left (fingerboard) hand really had trouble, and I immediately blistered. The old Beatle bass probably weight in around six pounds, and the Rick was maybe nine and a half. But over time, the blisters went to callouses, the span of my left hand became greater, and I got to be pretty good.

I would give it more time and practice. It'll take a while, but you'll get there.

Can't really say about the Rick-O-Sound two-amp thingie as I never utilized that feature. Lot of people love it, though.

Yes, you can play Ric-o-sound through a guitar amp. If i'm not mistaken, Geddy Lee (rush, if you dont know) ran his Neck pup to his Ampeg bass amp and his bridge pup to a guitar amp with some gain to make it gritty. I do a similar thing with mine on gigs except I use a Fender Rumble 350 with the built in overdrive on 5, blended at about 20%. Hope this helps

Wow, I played the bass with my gk bass amp and gk guitar amp with the ric o sound and all the highs went to the guitar amp and all the low end to the bass amp. This is really awesome. Definitely worth giving it another go.